Figs & Halloumi, Chef's Kiss

A late summer–early fall weeknight winner, inspired by an exciting Trader Joe's find

Everyone I know has been doing more of their shopping than usual at Trader Joe’s lately, myself included. I certainly don’t need to tell you that groceries have been getting expensive. And truthfully, I quite enjoy Trader Joe’s — it’s long been one of the core stops in my multi-pronged grocery strategy. When I wrote Start Simple, I used it to set the scope of the book’s ingredients; it’s often my litmus test for whether or not something will be reasonably easy to find.

When I was in Australia earlier this year it seemed that halloumi was on the menu at every cafe, usually as a meat alternative for sandwiches, breakfast platters, and salads, and I loved it. But here in the US, it’s been expensive and kind of hard to find. I don’t see it on menus very often, and I’ve rarely ever cooked with it. But what did I stumble on at TJ’s this past week? That’s right: six dollar packages of halloumi.